( slow, dramatic hip-hop intro fades in )
* You ready? *
* Let's go! *
* Yeah *
* For those of you that want to know what we're all about *
* It's like this, y'all, come on *
* This is ten percent luck, 20 percent skill *
* 15 percent concentrated power of will *
* Five percent pleasure, 50 percent pain *
* And 100 percent reason to remember the name *
* He doesn't need his name up in lights *
* He just wants to be heard... *
( thunder rumbling )
Hey, my phone...
* It's not about the salary, it's all about reality *
* And making some noise... *
( gunshots )
( tires squealing )
( sports broadcast playing on TV )
Donny, when did you get here?
Just now. Thought I'd watch to the end of the game.
Where you going?
He's going on a date.
DON: Oh, yeah?
Yeah. You know that girl
-Donna, from Val's wedding? -Yeah.
You know, the, uh, caterer?
-Mm-hmm. -Yeah, her.
Oh, hey, listen, I wanted to ask you guys something.
Uh, it's her birthday coming up, and I wanted to get her a gift.
You know, something...
( stammering ): I don't know, I just... don't know what.
It's just a question of what you want to say.
Well, how about, "Happy Birthday?"
You know, two mathematicians from University College
in London actually recently addressed
this very same question.
Mathematicians?
English mathematicians?
They used game theory to analyze the best characteristics
of a courtship gift.
Yeah. Well, no offense, Charlie.
It sounds to me like two math geeks who don't date much.
I do take offense.
Yeah, all right, shut up. So, keep going.
Well, assuming that the goal is the female's receptiveness...
Yes.
They found that an extravagant gift,
one that's costly to the man,
but of no real financial value to the woman,
offers the best chance of success.
So, why don't you buy her some flowers?
You know what? Take her to dinner in a fancy restaurant.
Okay, that's doable.
See? You guys still doubt the power of math?
Yeah, well, when it comes to female receptiveness, yes.
( phone ringing )
Huh.
Eppes.
Right. On my way.
What is that?
Shooting. Got to go.
Hey, have fun with, uh...
ALAN: Donna.
Right.
( siren blaring, indistinct radio transmission )
( helicopter hovering )
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
DON: Hey, what's going on?
Looks like a drive-by.
What, are you kidding me? Why'd they bring us in?
Just got down here myself.
Cops on the scene say
they were told to sit tight and wait.
-For what? -For me.
Lieutenant Gary Walker, LAPD, Gang Impact Team.
Hey. Don Eppes, FBI...
No badges. U.S. Attorney doesn't want the locals
to know FBI is on the scene.
Oh, yeah? And why is that?
Well, apparently, they don't want anyone to blow his cover.
Though personally, I think it's a little late.
But I'm not calling the shots.
( sighs )
His name is Anton Rhimes.
Worked an extortion case
together down in Long Beach.
Don, he's FBI.
We all use math every day,
to predict weather,
to tell time,
to handle money.
Math is more than formulas and equations.
It's logic...
it's rationality.
It's using your mind
to solve the biggest mysteries that we know.
WALKER: Agent Rhimes was part of a multi-agency task force.
He'd been working undercover for ten months.
As a gang member?
Yeah. He'd infiltrated the 23rd Street Syndicate,
and was providing information regarding their leadership.
So, they took him out?
That'd be my guess.
You find any casings?
No, but that's not unusual.
They tend to stay in the car in a drive-by.
All right, I'm gonna talk to the U.S. Attorney.
Meanwhile, you guys should just keep taking care
of the evidence, all right?
Yeah.
Restaurant was pretty busy all day.
You couldn't pull a single witness?
Well, it's kind of the way it is with these people, Agent.
It's kind of us versus them out there.
I meant lawmen versus civilians.
Right.
I know what we're waiting on.
An undercover FBI agent gets whacked.
We all know what happened.
23rd Street bangers found out his identity and had him killed.
In my opinion, we ought to hit them back hard for it.
The longer a thing like this goes unanswered,
the more dangerous it gets
for all of us out there.
I appreciate your sense of outrage,
Lieutenant, but we need to confirm that Agent Rhimes' cover
really was blown before we make a move.
You guys, this is Robin Brooks.
She's the Assistant U.S. Attorney
running the task force that Rhimes was on.
What I was suggesting was that we grab as many
of these 23rd Street bangers as we can for questioning.
Which would be as good as telling them
that Rhimes was a federal agent.
COLBY: Look, Counselor,
let's not forget.
We have a man down.
Where I come from, that means something.
Look, the 23rd Street Syndicate is responsible
for dozens of homicides,
extortion, drug trafficking.
I'm sorry, but I am not about to blow a 14-month investigation
to make you feel better.
DON: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Let's just take a breath here, okay?
I mean, an agent did give his life for this case.
But I agree.
There's no point jeopardizing what he was working on
until we absolutely have to, right?
Let me see what you got.
Like a lot of gangs, 23rd Street's branching out.
They've set up shop in over nine states.
We've had to turn
to federal racketeering provisions to stop them.
So you're building a RICO case?
Same way we've gone after traditional organized crime.
Take down the leadership.
It was Agent Rhimes' job to identify the "shot callers"
within the 23rd Street Syndicate.
This is a map
of local gang territories.
None of the boundaries are exact, as they vary
as bordering gangs battle.
They're random and unpredictable.
Actually, they're-they're neither.
Economists have several math models that we can apply
to analyze how gangs partition territory.
Now, one of them was actually
originally designed to predict plant growth.
In situations of dense population,
plants struggle against each other.
They fight to obtain sunlight, to establish dominance...
And it turns out, that the same equations designed
to predict plant growth apply themselves remarkably well
to borders between rival human
populations, as well.
Wh-Wh-What are these flags?
These are gang-related shootings.
Now, over what time frame? How many years?
-Years? -Mm-hmm.
This is just six months.
Six... Six months?
There's almost... There's almost 100 shootings.
BROOKS: And those are only
the shootings that are related to the 23rd Street Syndicate.
WALKER: You want total
gang shootings, we're talking more like 1,000.
I'm sorry. In six months?
Yeah.
Wow. Well, I'm assuming the LAPD
hasn't analyzed this with a regression tree
or run it through a Poisson Clumping analysis.
Well, considering that I have no idea
what that means, I'm gonna say no.
DON: He's a mathematician.
You know, they have their own language.
Charlie, what, do you see something here?
There is a lot of information here,
and I'm already detecting a pattern.
Now, if I could just get all files on the shootings,
I might be able to tell you
if Agent Rhimes' murder was part of a pattern,
or an anomaly.
Don, we have the video surveillance
from the restaurant.
DON: All right.
DON: All right, so that's Rhimes on the right,
but who's that?
( remote beeping )
( electronic whirring )
BROOKS: That's Travis Watts.
He's high up in the 23rd Street structure.
He's a suspected shot caller.
COLBY: Well, it looks to me like
he took Rhimes out for a last supper,
set him up for execution.
I... I don't know.
What about a warrant sweep?
I mean, you do it all the time.
We could play it low-profile, you know?
DAVID: So, we run down 23rd Street members
on open warrants, use that leverage to find Watts.
That way, no one knows about Agent Rhimes' cover.
Okay.
( hip-hop music playing )
( music fading out )
( sighs )
( sneezes )
Oh, this garage.
Do you have any idea how many deadly forms of mold
live out here?
Do you have any idea how many gang-related shootings
there were in Los Angeles in the past four years?
Obviously, I don't have that exact figure,
but something tells me you do.
Well, take a guess.
Just go ahead-- all shootings, non-fatal and fatal.
Go ahead, take a guess. How many?
Okay. Over the last four years?
I don't know. Let's say a thousand.
Almost 8,000.
Really?
Yeah.
2,000 of those resulted in deaths,
and most of them occurred ten or 12 miles from here.
Gee, those numbers are overwhelming.
They are.
There's a lot of data here, Larry,
but the police know who the players are.
And if I can just find the key attributes
to connect one crime to another,
I can write an algorithm to connect the shootings
to the gang members involved.
But Charlie, these issues-- they're just so complicated.
And you know, I mean,
what you're describing-- that seems like a lot to ask,
even for Don.
Well, Don did only ask for help with this one case, but, uh,
don't all these other victims deserve justice?
( hip-hop playing )
Whoo!
Guys.
Game over.
Take it back, man. We'll let you get winners.
Nah, that ain't gonna work, bro. We got now.
I need you all to get down on the ground. Yo!
Hit the ground.
WALKER: Come on.
You know the drill.
I got him! Hey!
Get back here!
Hey! Stop...!
Hey, you, stop, you.
Stop right there. Stop... Hands up.
Turn around.
Hands up. Hands on your head.
What the hell's going on?
I said, what the hell's going on?
Ma'am, I've got everything under control, okay?
You've got what under control?
DAVID: Ma'am, everything is fine.
I'm just doing my job.
Do you have a warrant?
Excuse me?
I'm the director of this community center,
and I'm responsible for what happens
-in this building. -No, I don't have a warrant,
and I don't need one to pursue a suspect.
John, take the kids back
in the room.
Come on, guys, let's go.
This doesn't have anything to do with us. Come on.
Are you all right?
Uh, he ran after me.
I ain't do nothing.
He was told to stop, and he ran.
Well, maybe the gun had something to do with it.
Kids come here to get away from violence.
You need some help?
Everything's under control, Lieutenant.
Ma'am, I have a job to do, and you need to let me do it.
DAVID: Everything's fine.
You see what I'm talking about, about the lack of cooperation.
So, guess what.
Anthony here has got not one, but two outstanding warrants.
Isn't that right, Anthony?
If you say so, man.
Yeah, man, I say so.
Only good news is, today we might give you a chance
to change your luck.
How is that?
We're looking for a friend of yours;
somebody you might roll with: Travis Watts.
Anthony, you help us,
maybe we worry about these warrants another day.
COLBY: What's it gonna be,
Anthony?
MEGAN ( on speaker ): Where were you
the night before last, Travis?
TRAVIS: I don't know. A lot of places.
I get around. You know how it is.
DAVID: This is you and Anton Rhimes at 6:20.
Only at 6:45, Anton's dead.
Yeah. So, I was with him.
And not when he got shot.
I went back for my cell phone.
That's kind of lucky for you.
Why are you asking me all these questions anyway?
You were there when he was murdered, right?
And what happened to him will be dealt with.
What's dealt with?
I'm not saying anything that would incriminate me.
But right about now,
some shaved heads in Hoover Park are getting a message.
DAVID: So, 23rd Street's retaliating.
Take one of mine, I'm gonna take five of yours.
DAVID: If 23rd Street really is retaliating,
there's no way they knew Rhimes is FBI.
Just got off the phone with Walker.
A gang unit in Hoover Park just confirmed
three separate drive-by shootings.
23rd Street's suspected.
So, Rhimes' cover was still intact?
But if his cover wasn't blown,
why the hell was he killed?
DON: If Rhimes' cover wasn't blown...
MEGAN: Then on the street, he was just another gang member.
What got him killed then?
Turf dispute? Wrong tattoos?
23rd Street retaliated against Hoover Park
because they think that they killed Rhimes.
WALKER: These two gangs have been going at each other hard,
ever since 23rd Street ripped off a drug shipment
from Hoover Park's supplier.
Yeah, but your guys keep track of all gang rivalries, right?
An enemies list.
Every time a name comes up in a beef with a rival gangbanger,
we write it down.
DON: I'd like to take a look
at those field reports, see if Rhimes was targeted
for being 23rd Street or it was personal or...
Maybe we should look into the personal side.
Maybe he had a concern that he didn't tell the prosecutor,
but maybe he told his wife.
Definitely worth checking out.
Don, Charlie's here. He's got something to show you.
CHARLIE: Now what you're seeing
is a behavioral sequence analysis.
It's a sequential representation of shootings
over the past four years.
DON: And what does it get us?
Well, this kind of dynamic graph is an amazingly good predictor
of what I've been calling shooting chains.
AGENT: Shooting chains?
Shootings that are linked-- one to the next, then to the next.
You mean retaliation shootings.
We already know about all those.
Well, what I'm saying is that it might be possible
to follow these shooting chains back to the original shooter.
Without witnesses and without testimony?
Visualize a tabletop
covered with dominos.
The first domino to fall is the start of a shooting chain.
Shooting chains can be short, shooting chains can be long.
Some shooting chains initiate other branching chains.
Now we're looking at these shooting chains after the fact,
after all the dominos have fallen.
And reconstructing these chains is going to be difficult.
But there is a way.
By using hierarchical network graphs
in combination with Poisson Clumping,
we can work our way backwards,
back to the original dominos that started the chain.
DAVID: Which means we could identify the inciters--
gang members most prone to violence.
-CHARLIE: That's correct. -And if we could
somehow remove them from the loop...
Theoretically, we stop future shootings.
You got it. That's it.
Well, that's an interesting notion.
Interesting, yet you don't seem interested.
Well, it's a matter of priorities.
18 percent of these shootings
killed or injured innocent bystanders.
I think some of those people were ten years old.
35 percent of the victims were 16 years old or younger.
Yeah, I know.
I'm at those crime scenes, and I don't like it.
But no matter how many gangbangers we pull in,
more are gonna come to take their place.
And frankly, to most people, stopping bad guys
from killing bad guys isn't a major priority.
Yeah, again, some of these shootings
involve innocent people.
All right, Charlie, hey...
That's fine. Excuse me. That's fine.
You know, you'll just have to forgive me
if I feel that citywide gang violence isn't something
that one mathematician can stop.
I'm gonna have to run.
Brief the next team.
I'll talk to you later, all right?
-Look, hey... -Hey, I'm not here
to start trouble with anyone.
Listen, listen, all right?
Let's just concentrate on Rhimes for now, okay?
You got to give the guy a break.
He's been at this for, you know, over 20 years now.
We were planning a family.
It was gonna happen
right after Anton's undercover assignment was over.
I'm really sorry.
It's funny, you know, he hasn't been home
all that much these last few months, so...
not having him around, it really hasn't hit me yet.
I was hoping I could ask you a couple of questions.
Sure.
Has your husband mentioned being afraid of anyone or anything
in the last couple of weeks?
Anton afraid?
He didn't have the gene.
( chuckles )
I'm the one who did the worrying.
So he never mentioned anyone.
We didn't talk very much lately.
Like I said, he hasn't been around.
I'm in my last year of architecture school,
and there just never seemed to be enough time.
I understand.
But I could tell he was excited.
You know, he'd get that way whenever he was getting close.
I think the people he was after were starting to trust him,
starting to let him make decisions.
I can't even give him the funeral he deserves.
Can't even bury him with honor,
because they still don't want to blow his cover.
It's quite a job you have.
AMITA: This is another FBI project,
judging from the references to firearm violence.
Yeah, well, an FBI agent was killed.
I'm trying to identify possible motives.
By identifying all the links and patterns, is that it?
So many of these murders are connected
that I'm having trouble seeing past the initial relationships.
Looks like they're chain reactions.
I'm calling them shooting chains.
You're trying to solve all
the shooting chains, is that right?
Not just one.
Uh, yeah.
Oh, Charles, consider Galileo.
Now he was interested
in a single specific problem--
getting a closer look at the planets.
So he built the most powerful telescope of his time.
That's right, and he saw the moons of Jupiter,
thus proving that not everything in the universe
revolved around the Earth.
The point, Fleinhardt, the point.
The point, Mr. Eppes, is that formulating a grand theory
is often best done by focusing
on a single, small question.
Why did you print out
-all these photos? -I don't know.
I was looking at the ages of the victims,
and I wanted to see their faces.
MAN: All right, Eric.
Bye, Damian.
( hip-hop blaring )
Let me give you a hand there.
Thanks.
You're the one that was chasing that kid earlier.
That's right.
Who are you after now?
I'm not after anyone.
Don't get me wrong, those that run need chasing.
It's the kids I worry about.
They can still be saved.
John Owens.
David Sinclair. Nice to meet you.
The lady I was talking to earlier...
Olivia?
She still around?
Olivia's always around.
She's probably inside.
Thanks.
Hope you didn't come by
to make more trouble.
No, I just wanted to ask you a few questions,
that's all.
About Anthony?
No, we cut Anthony loose.
Turns out he really didn't do anything.
At least you admit when you make a mistake.
There was a murder down here the other night.
Been a bunch of murders down here.
This one had a few witnesses though.
I thought maybe
you could help me get someone to come forward,
give us some more info.
( chuckles )
Help you?
Wait a minute.
Just hold on for a second.
You have a problem with trying to solve a murder?
People get shot around here every day.
Never much effort finding witnesses.
It just makes me wonder, why all the interest now?
Who was it that got shot?
Look, whatever you think about me, okay,
about the police,
people around here seem to listen to you.
And I am asking for your help.
You mean you're asking me to trust you.
Yeah. I guess I am.
And I'm supposed to do that
because you have a badge?
I'm sorry.
You haven't been down here enough
for me to trust you.
A man lost his life.
I'm not here to restore your faith in the system.
I am just trying to find his killer.
If you think you want to help with that, call me.
Donny.
-Dad. -What's going on?
Not much.
Things are just not coming together on this one.
Yeah, I know.
I saw some of what Charlie's been working on.
Charlie.
He's looking at every gang shooting
for the last four years, which is a lot.
Well, he follows the numbers.
The more something seems unsolvable,
the more he wants to solve it.
Well, he's wasting time.
He's looking at way too much.
Look, I don't think he expects to solve something
that's been going on that long.
I mean, with decades of bad urban planning,
racism and economic blight,
gang violence doesn't go away overnight.
It's just that it's Charlie, you know?
He has to get to understand the entire picture.
Hey. Don, hey.
I got news for you.
Yeah? On Rhimes or the 4,000 other shootings?
Both.
I was able to discover a pattern.
Nine shootings, all of them connected, right?
With Agent Rhimes, you've got ten.
Connected, as in all part of the same chain?
No. Each one of the ten is the start of its own shooting chain.
And Don, I think
they're all the work
of the same killer.
So you're saying Rhimes' killer
-is responsible for ten murders? -No, far more.
I mean, he may have pulled the trigger on those ten murders,
but they aren't his only victims.
ALAN: Right, because of
all the retaliation shootings, you mean.
Right. When you include
all the victims from these ten shooting chains,
you've got yourself one person setting off over 60 murders.
Hey, guys, listen up.
I got nine separate gang shootings
over the last two years.
Charlie thinks they are all related
to Rhimes' murder.
Related how?
All the same shooter.
The same shooter?
DON: That's right.
WALKER: Ten kills?
I don't care how hard-core
a gangbanger we're talking about,
this guy would be a legend.
He's right.
Plus, the shootings are spread
throughout completely different gang territories,
exploiting totally different rivalries.
Trust me, if Charlie's math says they're connected,
the odds are they are connected, okay?
I have three different files here.
All three victims are different races.
They also all have a different weapon.
.25 cal.-- what's this, .44... that's a nine millimeter.
Yeah, same here.
They're all different.
That's why we need to look at this stuff fresh, right?
We need to run the prints again,
the ballistics, anything we can, okay?
Hold on a second.
You see something?
MEGAN: All three of these--
four, if you count Rhimes--
are single homicides;
the victim is isolated.
-Yeah, this one is, too. How about these? -Same.
Yeah, here, too.
Yeah, this one as well.
So?
So, that doesn't happen by accident.
MEGAN: It might just be
something about opportunity,
or it might be part of a bigger plan.
But either way, it supports Charlie's theory
that there's a single killer
with a specific method of finding his victims.
All right, let's check into this; let's go.
Professor Fleinhardt.
Oh, Agent Reeves.
-Hey, Amita. -Hi.
-Charlie. -Hey.
Wow, you have a lot of victim photos.
CHARLIE: Lot of victims.
Charlie, Don told me your theory,
and, assuming you're right,
I'm trying to figure out
how the killer is finding his victims.
And I don't have a behavioral model yet,
but it seems that it has to be
more than just opportunity.
And I can tell you mathematically,
yeah, it has to be.
What does that mean? Why?
Each of the murders started
an exceptionally long shooting chain.
Now, the average for a shooing chain
is about 2.8 shootings, right?
Well, these are all much higher.
Look-- four, five, six, seven shootings, even.
Statistically, that wouldn't happen
if he had chosen the victims at random.
The chains would have conformed to the overall average.
So, there is definitely a method
to how he's choosing his victims.
In other words, the killer's choosing his victims
specifically to maximize retaliation.
So he's trying to take out as many gang members as possible.
But wouldn't that also endanger members of his own gang?
I mean, they're surely going to be the target
of the retaliation.
You see, now you're making
this rather large assumption.
I mean, how do we know that the shooter is a gang member?
DAVID: A serial killer?
MEGAN: Targeting gang members for the same reason
other serial killers target prostitutes.
Because nobody really cares about the victims.
Exactly. And then they can go on killing for longer
without anyone noticing.
I mean, this guy's been out there for like two years.
And if he hadn't killed Rhimes,
we still wouldn't know who he is.
( cell phone rings )
Charlie says he's been maximizing retaliations.
He'd have to know a lot about gangs.
I mean, about their structure, how they function.
You're right, that's how he knows who to go after.
All right, yeah.
Yeah, I got you.
That was Ballistics. One of the slugs
we've been testing hit on the computer.
Turns out the same gun that fired it
was used in a liquor store
robbery-homicide.
Well, let's run down the guy who owns the gun--
find our shooter.
The problem is, this gun's
not even supposed to exist anymore.
What does that mean?
It was turned in to one of those buy-back programs
three years ago-- turn in your gun,
get a free gift at Christmastime.
And those guns are supposed to be destroyed?
Yeah, they're supposed to be, but obviously this one wasn't.
-You got this? Thank you. -Yep, got it.
( hip-hop blaring )
Yo, Hoover Park!
( tires squealing )
( helicopter circling )
( siren wailing )
This is part of the shooting chain
related to Anton Rhimes' murder.
23rd Street retaliated against Hoover Park
this afternoon.
Tonight, Hoover Park strikes back.
It's probably not over, either.
DAVID: No.
Ah, man, that's Anthony, huh?
Been better off if you'd locked him up.
Hey, David, let me talk to you for a second.
Did some checking into that gun,
the one that went missing from the buy-back program.
Yeah...
Dug up some paperwork.
Take a look at this.
The signature on the bottom of that receipt.
"Lieutenant Gary Walker."
Could be completely innocent, but at some point or another,
the gun that killed Rhimes passed through Walker's hands.
( indistinct radio communication )
I don't think I like what you're suggesting.
Well, it's not a question of whether you like it,
because your name is on the form, right?
That's your name, it's not a forgery,
so the investigation brings us to you; I'm sorry.
My name's on about a thousand forms.
I've been working the buy-back program
in my division for six years.
Collecting weapons
that were supposed to be melted down.
You know how many guns we take in off the street?
How many lives we save because of it?
Then why don't you tell me how a gun that you signed for
ends up back on the street in the hands of a killer.
Who the hell knows;
security's not perfect at these things,
a lot of people come through here.
Now, we probably took 50 guns off the street that day.
If one of them slipped through, got back out,
that's still 49 others that we took in.
I don't care about them, because they're not
in the hands of a murderer.
Oh come on, Eppes, we're talking about
a motivated individual out there killing.
If it hadn't been this gun, it'd been another one,
and you and I both know that.
All right...
COLBY: Don? Excuse me.
The guys upstairs ran a full audit.
More than a dozen guns from the buy-back program
never made it to the furnace.
( scoffing laugh )
Okay, then, just tell me how the program works.
What is the exact chain of possession?
There's usually maybe five or six drop-off locations:
churches, community centers...
DAVID: Community Centers?
Is there any way to check each weapon
against the location it was turned in to?
COLBY: Well, just by the responsible
police officer's signatures.
And, it turns out, all these guns were signed for
by you, Lieutenant.
DAVID: Which means they were all
turned in at the same location.
Right.
Which is the 23rd Street Community Center.
You do see the obscene irony here,
don't you, Agent Sinclair?
We're one of the few places in the neighborhood
that's really trying to do some good,
and you're coming down on us.
Ms. Rawlings, I am not coming down on you.
The gun buy-back is a good program.
That may be,
but we still need to see those records.
We need to know
everyone who was working here
the day the guns were collected.
These are people who try to help out.
People who contribute.
Do you have any idea
how hard it's going to be to get volunteers
if they can't lend a hand here
without getting a visit from the FBI?
Ms. Rawlings, I want those names and addresses.
Anyone who had access to those guns.
I know you do background checks.
What if I won't give them to you?
We can get a court order and make this public.
And, I suppose, the community center
could find itself liable to the victims' families
if it came to that.
I hope you're really proud of yourself.
You're doing a whole lot
to give back to this community.
Ten people had the opportunity
to get their hands on the guns
that were turned in
at the 23rd Street Community Center.
Those are the background checks they ran.
Well, we can probably rule out the priest, huh?
These six here strike me as possibilities.
They could have the necessary gang knowledge,
and the ability to pull something like this off.
All right, so we just need to find a way
to connect one of them to the victims.
Specifically, the first victim.
Because with serial killers,
the first victim almost always has significance.
It's the first kill.
It's a really big step.
Means it's personal, or someone close, accessible.
So, victim number one is
where we're looking to find our link.
This is Omar Brice.
He was shot outside of a party two years ago.
All right.
Well, I'll take the family.
You want to pull his record,
talk to his P.O.?
I'll see what Walker's gang unit has on him.
Has to be a link between him
and one of our suspects.
CHARLIE: Hey.
Are you still working?
Yeah, I just needed a break.
Where's Dad?
He's upstairs.
He just got home from his date with, um... Donna.
Oh, yeah?
So?
-How'd it go? -ALAN: Fine.
The date went fine.
DON: Yeah?
What'd you end up getting her?
Well, according to those London mathematicians,
you should have sprung for the very expensive dinner, Dad.
Nah, I disagree.
I think women want something that'll last.
Something they can remember the night by, at least.
That would be ideal.
I'm afraid to ask.
What did you get her?
-Soap. -Soap.
Very expensive soap.
Yeah?
How'd that go over?
Well, uh...
Honestly speaking, she wasn't wowed.
I mean, she was very polite about it,
but she, uh, wasn't, uh... wowed.
Ruined the whole date, didn't it?
It didn't ruin the date. The date was fine.
You're home at 9:30.
I didn't say it couldn't have been better.
You look exhausted, you know that?
I'm just killing myself
trying to find a link between our suspects
and his first victim.
Well, at least you have suspects.
Hey, Don, why are you...
why are you looking to link
your suspects to the first victim?
Because when it comes to serial murders,
there's always significance to the first victim.
Well, I understand that, but what I mean is
why aren't you looking at the whole first chain?
What do you mean?
Now, remember I compared the shooting chains to dominos?
Right? Okay.
So, let's say I'm the killer,
and I have reason to want this gang member killed.
We'll call him "Bob."
Now, I could just shoot Bob myself.
The smarter move:
Assuming I know the gang structure well enough...
instead of shooting Bob, I shoot "Tim,"
knowing that shooting Tim will set off a chain
that ultimately results...
in the shooting of my real target, Bob.
That is smart.
You're never involved in the shooting of Bob.
So, since you don't have a motive for killing Tim,
then you're not a suspect there, either.
Check the whole first chain,
your target's going to be in there.
Charlie, thanks.
What are we working on?
First shooting chain.
We only looked at the first link, Omar Brice.
But what if Brice wasn't the real target?
What if the real target was someone
further down the chain?
That makes sense.
At the time of Brice's murder, LAPD focused on three suspects.
They're all Hoover Park gang members.
They had all made threats against Brice.
Carlos Alvarez,
Jesse Orosco, and Peter Mendez.
I have the murder file on Orosco and Jesse right here.
He was gunned down one week after the Brice slaying.
-So Orosco was victim number two in the shooting chain. -Yeah.
Wait a minute.
Where's the file on the community center volunteers?
It's right over here.
Why? What do you got?
This kid, Orosco,
at the time ofhis murder, he was a suspect in another drive-by--
one that killed a 15-year-old kid
named Brian Owens.
Kid's father John works at the community center.
Really?
He was present at all the gun buy-backs.
So this guy's son
gets shot in a drive-by.
He sets off a shooting chain that ends up
killing the gangbanger that's responsible.
Only the killing
didn't stop there.
( indistinct police radio transmission )
( helicopter circling )
Spotter says Owens is inside alone.
I tried calling, but he's not picking up.
COLBY: The dude's armed for sure.
Talked to one of his neighbors.
Says he sees him out on his porch at night with a rifle.
He's pretty sure it's an AK.
Plus all the guns he got from the buy-back program.
What we need is to lure him near a window,
give one of my snipers a clean shot.
Shoot first, ask questions later, right?
Lives are in danger here, Agent Sinclair--
lives of the people who live here.
Don, I met this guy.
Let me see if I can talk to him.
Just give me a shot.
Maybe it doesn't end with a sniper's bullet.
All right.
DAVID: John Owens, can you hear me?
It's Agent Sinclair.
I helped you with the tables the other day
at the community center.
You remember?
Hold!
Hold! Hold!
Calm down, John!
Calm down!
Easy.
Lower that rifle.
Get a man in position.
I got nothing to say to you, Sinclair.
Okay, maybe you could just listen.
I know about your son.
I know what happened to him.
He was 15 years old.
Fifteen.
Only I couldn't protect him.
I know.
John, it should have never happened.
But what you're doing, more people are gonna get hurt.
It's too late for all that.
What about the kids?
Remember the ones you said could still be saved?
What about them, John?
They still need you.
I'm going to jail; we both know that.
John, listen to me.
You put that gun down, and you come on out here.
Nobody else has to get hurt today, okay?
John.
DAVID: John! Talk to me.
John, keep talking to me, man.
I'm right here!
John!
Hey, John!
John, talk to me!
David!
You come back out here, John!
-Get down! -Come back to the window!
( gunshot )
Roll call.
You okay?
He shot himself.
I heard.
How's David?
I sent him home.
Colby's with him.
Your man, Sinclair, did himself proud today.
He's got nothing to feel bad about.
We all went home safe, and...
that's about as much as you can ask.
I was gonna go see Rhimes' wife
and tell her what happened.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Hello!
ALAN: Yeah, we're coming down.
Yeah? Where are you going?
CHARLIE: He's got yet another date.
Yeah? With-- what's her name-- Donna?
I thought that wasn't going to work out.
Well, your brother came to my rescue.
CHARLIE: I bought gift number two
on that courtship study list: theater tickets.
According to those matheticians, you know the British ones,
this is a sure thing.
Well, maybe not a sure thing,
but it's certainly better than, you know, soap.
I don't need math to figure that out.
Uh, thanks for your insights, my little Don Juan.
So what are you up to tonight, Donny?
Well, I thought I was going to hang with you boys, but...
CHARLIE: Oh, man, I wish you'd called.
I'm going to Amita's for dinner.
Larry's going to be there-- why don't you join us?
I think I'll just grab something to eat here
-and head home. -Yeah? All right.
-You sure? -Yeah, go ahead, have fun.
I got stuff to do, anyway.
Have a good time.
( mumbling ): All right, all right.
( door shuts )
* *
DAVID: Say someone steps right up to you,
all up in your grill.
What are you going to do?
I know what you want to do, but what are you gonna do?
The first thing you're gonna do is think.
What I'm trying to get you guys to see is there are other ways
to keep your respect than just resorting to violence.
You got more options than that.
All right, y'all give me second?
Hey, how you doing?
My assistant told me
someone was going take over for John tonight.
I didn't expect it was gonna be you.
Yeah, um... conflict resolution.
Class like that really helped me out when I was a kid, so...
Oh, yeah?
Yeah, you know, I was a bit of a hard-ass.
Was?
( chuckles ): You really do like to fight.
( laughs )
Maybe you want to sit in.
You know, you could learn some good ways to work things out.
And I won't even call on you.
-( laughs ) -I'll let you sit there and just watch me.
If you want to.
Let them know when you're done,
so they can turn out the lights when you leave.
Yes, ma'am.
And I assume an FBI agent like you can figure out
how to find my number.
What are y'all looking at?
All right, where were we?
Talking about options-- options to violence, right?
Say you're at the bus stop, you're in line,
somebody steps-- boom!-- right on your sneakers.
What are you gonna do?
* It will be all right *
* And maybe love will save you. *